Taking a break
By mid-October, Mary is ready for a break. She does drugs every couple of months, she says, and now is her downtime. “You gotta be responsible,” she says. “If you plan on doing it every week, that’s how it becomes a problem. It should never rip a friendship apart, never ruin your night if it’s not there. If you’re being disappointed because you can’t get it, you should really stop and think about what your priorities are. You need to think about whether you have a problem or not.”

Mary says she takes time off from the drugs, doing a small amount here and there when offered. She isn’t stopping altogether. And if people want to judge her, she says, they’ll have to try it for themselves.

Ryan Loew is a junior newspaper journalism major. This is his second time writing for The Burr.

The effects of experimentation
— Katie Alberti

Some students might experiment with drugs for the mental escape, but it’s not the most common reason they use drugs, says Dr. Bob Taraszewski, an associate professor of internal medicine at NEOUCOM. “Stimulants are popular now,” he says. “This is a big shift from the ’70s when students were walking around semi-stoned. Back then, it was more of an escape from war and protests. Now, instead of base jumping and cliff diving, people are going for an easy rush.”

Taraszewski says many people experiment with drugs because of the high they get while on them. “The number one thing all drugs
have in common is the euphoric rush, the level of excitement that you can’t get physically,” he says. “Part of the motivation is to get that rush.”

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, frequent drug users can develop serious mental and physical illnesses. NIDA reports that abusing these substances alters brain functions, which can result in habitual drug cravings and uses.

“I see people that use everything,” says Mary Carol Kennedy, an advanced practice psychiatric nurse at Mayview State Hospital in Pittsburgh. “I see heroin and methamphetamine users; nothing is
left out.”

Despite the side effects these drugs have on users, Taraszewski says one of the main things drugs destroy is memory. “The drugs really do a job on actually burning memory,” he says. “You burn out your best memory and lose your short-term and intermediate memory.” In addition, users can have problems learning and virtually fry their learning capacity.

Twelve percent of Kent State students have used cocaine at some point in their lives, as reported in a 2004 campus-wide survey sponsored by the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services and the U.S. Department of Education. In addition, 13 percent of Kent State students reported they have tried MDMA, better known as Ecstasy, at least once.

After consistent use, Taraszewski says, medical complications are likely to occur. “Using cocaine causes your heart rate and blood pressure to rise,” he says. “If you take a high enough quantity, you hyper-perceive things, such as seeing colors brighter and hearing sounds louder.”

NIDA also reports that repeatedly bingeing on high doses of cocaine can make a person irritable, restless and paranoid. High doses of the drug also can lead to paranoid psychosis, where the user can experience auditory hallucinations and does not know what is going on in his or her surroundings.

Kennedy says the effect cocaine has on a person varies. “It’s kind of individual,” she says. “There is lots of depression with people who use stimulants, especially cocaine. There also are memory deficits with the short-term memory and the loss of ability to do (various) things.”

Although students may believe drug use can be identified through physical appearance, Kennedy says the most noticeable changes are the mental consequences. “What you notice more is the behavior changes,” she says.
“These vary depending on age and what they use.”

Like cocaine, NIDA reports the use of Ecstasy can lead to a wide array of health problems, including those associated with cocaine.

Using Ecstasy regularly can cause brain functions to change, NIDA reports. It can cause depression because it alters the functions of serotonin, a communication chemical in the brain. Altering serotonin can lead to changes in mood, sexual activity, sleep, aggression and sensitivity to pain.

Taraszewski says he believes students sometimes think nothing bad can happen to them. “They get this false sense of security, this feeling of invincibility, that nothing can hurt them and the future’s bright,” he says. “But it is only a bigger gun to play Russian roulette with.”

Kennedy says there is treatment available for addiction. “People should be very hopeful because treatment does work,” she says. “Some young people feel there isn’t hope for them because they haven’t had experiences in life where they have failed and recovered. Students should realize that treatment works, and they should feel a sense of recovery. People can recover. Help yourself, and then help another.”